The bullying of academics follows a pattern of horrendous, Orwellian elimination rituals, often hidden from the public. Despite the anti-bullying policies (often token), bullying is rife across campuses, and the victims (targets) often pay a heavy price.
"Nothing strengthens authority as much as silence." Leonardo da Vinci - "All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men [or good women] do nothing." Edmund Burke

July 23, 2012

"The Committee encourages submissions to its inquiry from a wide range
of individuals and organisations... More submissions will be added to the list when they are received and authorised for publication..."

Read some of the submissions, including one from the National Tertiary Education Union:

July 20, 2012

Staff relations at one of Australia's top universities have become so dysfunctional some employees spend working days "crying in the toilets".
More than two thirds of the academic and general staff at the
University of NSW - many in senior positions - said they had been
bullied at work.

Some claimed to have been sexually assaulted.
Many
of the alleged bullies are women and university authorities have been
accused of failing to address the issue, a federal parliamentary inquiry
into workplace bullying has been told.

A submission to the
inquiry prepared by the National Tertiary Education Union said a
confidential survey of more than 550 UNSW staff uncovered complaints
about "unfair treatment, public humiliation, arbitrary misuse of power
and repeated shouting, swearing and threatening behaviour in their work
units".
Almost 40 respondents said they received or witnessed "unwanted
sexual attention" while others reported "illegal discriminatory
activity, pressure to retire and demeaning and discriminatory jokes".

One
senior staff member was heard to comment on a colleague, saying she
looked like "Princess Diana after the accident with the steering wheel
through her face".

The submission said: "This was reported to
senior management in the workplace but the respondent was unaware of any
action taken.

"Some of the open-ended responses described incidences that amounted to physical and/or sexual assault.

"Another said that seeing colleagues crying in the toilets was a daily occurrence."

UNSW
vice president of university services Neil Morris said yesterday
university chiefs had met the NTEU to discuss the report on workplace
bullying.

"While there are isolated cases of bullying -- as with
any large organisation -- the university does not accept there is a
culture or pattern of bullying at UNSW," Mr Morris said.

"None of our internal measures of bullying complaints or claims match the NTEU data and, in fact, are much lower."

Federal Tertiary Education Minister Senator Chris Evans did not respond to a request for comment.

NTEU
branch president at UNSW Dr Sarah Gregson said in the submission she
feared bullying was becoming an unacknowledged but deeply corrosive
aspect of campus life: "The evidence we gathered suggested that,
although UNSW has a bullying policy and other guidelines that outline
acceptable workplace conduct, these policies are routinely ignored and
harmful behaviour is often excused."

The submission said many staff feared speaking up about bullying, were demoralised and would like to leave UNSW.

"We were surprised at the number of relatively senior staff members who were also being bullied," it said.

Bullying in Australian universities is widespread and should be
investigated across the tertiary sector, says the academic responsible
for a damning report into one of Sydney's top universities.

Sarah Gregson's Report into Workplace Bullying at UNSW, first reported in the Herald
in March, uncovered a culture of bullying and intimidation at the
university, and has now been submitted to a federal inquiry into
workplace bullying. Dr Gregson, an academic at the university and the
local branch representative of the National Tertiary Education Union
(NTEU), said she would be lobbying the union to extend her survey to
other institutions.

''I've sent that report to a range of activists around the
union and they say there's nothing in there that they're not very
familiar with, so we just need to keep continue to keep campaigning …
We'd like the parliamentary inquiry to recommend improved legislation in
the area.''

In an email to staff yesterday the vice-president, university
services at UNSW, Neil Morris, rejected Dr Gregson's report, saying
there was no pattern of bullying and the research methods were not
sound...

Imagine if there was in the UK a National Inquiry into Workplace Bullying just as the one taking place in Australia right now. Imagine what it would uncover in UK universities... and why is UCU not asking for such an inquiry?

Join the Bullied Academics Yahoo Group

Useful and informative Links

• Bad Apple Bullies - If you work as a teacher in Queensland, a Bad Apple Bully principal can destroy your health and your career with malicious gossip and secret sticky-notes.

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• Bully Online - Those who can, do. Those who can't, bully. Bully OnLine is the world's leading web site on workplace bullying and related issues which validates the experience of workplace bullying and provides confirmation, reassurance and re-empowerment.

• Suppression of dissent - The general field of "suppression of dissent" includes whistleblowing, free speech, systems of social control and related topics. The purpose of the site is to foster examination of these issues and action against suppression. It is founded on the assumption that openness and dialogue should be fostered to challenge unaccountable power.

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• The Workplace Bullying Institute is the sole United States organization dedicated to the eradication of workplace bullying through public education, help for individuals, employer solutions and legislative advocacy.